D.C. resident and Libertarian candidate for D.C. (statehood or "shadow") Representative to Congress, Martin Moulton wrote the following article on the need for D.C. statehood for the Voices of Liberty (Ron Paul) website:

September 17, 2014 – As we mark the 13th anniversary of the tragedies of 9/11 and the travesty of yet another United States President failing to justify launching an attack in a foreign country, in another extravagant and bloody gambit to dictate democracy abroad, it’s time to focus attention to how our Federal government practices what it preaches right here at home. Surrounding the US Capitol and White House are more than 646,000 law abiding, tax paying American citizens who do not enjoy the democracy which even citizens in Baghdad enjoy; these Americans are subject to taxation without representation — something our county used to battle viciously against. On Monday, September 15, the Senate held a hearing on S.132, the New Columbia Admission Act of 2013 to restart the effort to do some nation building at home by establishing New Columbia as the 51st State.

Although the facts are often lost in most political discussions about the balance of power, the establishment of the District does not require a constitutional amendment. In 1846, Virginia retroceded its portion of the District of Columbia from the Federal District of Washington DC. In order to grant the citizens of District of Columbia equality with those in the existing 50 states, the Federal District can simply be reduced once again to include primarily the Federal government buildings which would remain the District of Columbia, a strictly Federal jurisdiction, within the boundaries of the State of New Columbia. See proposed map.

In addition, when republican dominated Hawaii and liberal Alaska received statehood, no one expected that their political leanings would radically flip; so, the District’s future as a majority Democrat jurisdiction will be open to whichever party — Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Green — speaks effectively to the needs and values of its diverse residents.

Instead of spending trillions more in US tax payer dollars and sacrificing the lives of more brave US service women and men to show the world how much they believe in Democracy, Congress should simply vote to pass S.132 and its House companion bill, H.R.292, to show the world that even Congress’ immediate neighbors are entitled to democracy and equal rights. Libertarians realize that citizens are best served by small local and state governments. It’s time to #LiberateDC and remove the redundancy and expense of Congress micromanaging laws already passed by locally elected officials. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks the U.S. 19th in its index of the World’s leading democracies. The United Nation’s recently acknowledged that DC’s status diminishes our entire Nation as one of the world’s leading democracies and champions of human rights. The current Senate bill has unprecedented support on Capitol Hill. The time has come to do more nation building at home.